Wednesday, August 31, 2011

If they are not plastered with creepy cartoons, lame logos or some sort of sport or truck, they are a button up shirt or a onesie.

I just want a shirt.

A plain shirt. Maybe some with stripes. Maybe some with a cool design on it that isnt someone surfing or a peace sign or a dinosaur. Not there there is anything wrong with dinos... just not on EVERYTHING.

Monkeys and all were great when he was a baby baby, but now I think I would like to dress him in something that doesn't come with a cartoon character on it. I have some things that are plain and I use them a lot. I like the plaid pants and the over alls

Sadly, these things are few and far between.

I should just find a place and buy a ton of white shirts and then some dyes, and some printable iron-on transfers and design them MYSELF!!!!

I think that will be my new project. If I had time to sew I would MAKE him super cool baby clothes.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Last year I was invited to my cousin's wife's mother's summer picnic for the first time. Wow that sounds more complicated than it is. We will just say, the Pacific Northwest Family Picnic!

Anyways, this picnic is a yearly event for them and I have become cool enough to be invited again. I feel happy to be wanted and welcome at this picnic. I love this family and all the friends that come with it. They are some amazing people.

They took over the Birch picnic area of the Lewisville Park with jell-o based desserts, some simple BBQ (burgers and dogs!) and lots of home made mac salad, deviled eggs and all kinds of interesting and yummy things to eat. Some good, some scary, but all made with love. Or picked out with love in my case.... (last minute notice of the picnic this year!)

The kids run around in the grass and play with squirt guns. The pinata come out, the volley ball net, a sack race and all the fun things that you do at a family picnic and laugh a lot at.

So here are my pictures from this year. I was too distracted to get pics of everyone, and I want to change that next year, though there is part of me that feels odd taking pictures of other people, especially their children, and knowing that I will probably put them on my blog. I guess I can just always leave it open for them to ask me to take them down. I just have some sort of weird boundary about that. I may just have to ask them if its ok to take a picture of them. Or maybe they assume a picture will be taken when they come to things like this.

But anyways... ONTO THE PICTURES!

the sack race!

Standing around with Liam

hanging out with Liam

Dotty, looking just too good for this moment

Liam playing with a cow on wheels.

The pinata! (I found the place to hang it!)

Liam, eating candy from the pinata, I think that sugar gave him the energy to play all the rest of the day.

Pearl walking with Liam. Liam took off to follow her, so she stopped to hold his hand and walk with him. My heart melted.

Checking out some leaves

Putting the squirt guns into the firewood bin.

The pinnacle of the day for Liam, hanging out in the water drainage area and playing with a cup.

Dan did get to come for about half an hour at the end and he showed Liam the volley ball.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Today I finally did something I have been putting off. I sorted my clothes. I tossed out the ratty ones, the old ones, the ones I will NEVER wear. And in the process I found my skirt.

I bought this skirt when I was 25, living in CA and about 30lbs lighter.

This is my goal now. In one years time I want to fit into the skirt again.

It is a size 16. For some of you that may seem huge, for others it may be small. For me, it is about where I think I should be. Maybe a size 14. But that is about as small as I can be and still look good. I may reevaluate that statement when I reach that goal, but until then...

So, now that I am sharing my goal, I hope that you all can help me meet it. Support, encouragement, a kind word... that can go a long ways.

Monday, August 22, 2011

In the last few weeks I have had to re-manage my time. Part of this came from joining the gym and making time in some mornings to go work out. I go as soon as we eat breakfast. 4-5 days a week so far and I want to keep doing that.

I could not be doing this without the van my mom brought up for me to use. I am so grateful for this van. It allows me to go out during the day to places I actually WANT to go without making my sweet and hard working husband have to take the bus.

I make time for the gym, and as part of that change, I am taking Liam to go DO something after the gym. The park, or shopping, I am going to be adding the community pool to the list soon I think. And with him getting out more, he naps better and sleeps through the night now.

I also have the puppy now and need to make time for her. In two days she will get her second set of shots and then she can come to the park with us and go out with us. I am so excited for this!!! She is getting more and more energy, but being under house arrest for her health has been making us ALL a little crazy.

It means I am spending less time indoors, which DOES translate into less baking, but ya know what? I will be glad for that. I don't really NEED to be eating all those baked goodies. I am sure Dan is missing his cookies about now though....

With all these new activities now open to me I am so excited to take Liam out more. I have so many things I want to show him. Today we did a pool party with some other moms, and later this week I want to take him swimming. And once Nym gets her shots I want to take them both to the park more often.

I think I like this new way of living. I forgot how nice it felt to be able to GET OUT!!!!

Here is Liam at the park. Can you spot him? If you ever forget how tiny a 14 month old is, just let them go wander into the big kid playground. He seems so small and fragile.

And here is Nym, growing faster every day. She is so well behaved with Liam, and she is learning some things like sit and leave it very well. She is a good dog!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Someone I know thinks that if I put my son in that daycare for one hour three times a week he will be abused by the people, treated poorly and neglected or something like that. AFTER I had just mentioned on Facebook that it was HARD to leave him there, in the care of someone other than family for the first time. I opened up and said I was scared, and she tries to tell me that terrible things will happen to him there????

To her I say shush. Shush and keep the scary things to yourself. I considered the scary things. I thought about it all. I talked to the manager, My mom talked to someone else who had a kiddo in the daycare, and I decided that one hour, three times a week was ok to leave my kiddo in there. Not all day, not for three hours while I ran around doing errands... one hour while I got a little work out.

Today, with 15 minutes left of my class the woman from the daycare came to fetch me from my class because Liam was crying and could not be comforted. So, I got out of the water, dried off as fast as I could and got back into the daycare.

This woman had my baby and another little boy snuggled in her arms rocking them back and forth trying to calm them down. She was doing her job and doing it well. Her co-worker had a sad little girl who she was comforting and the older kids were all trying their best to help soothe the babies.

So... I think its ok. They care. They try to do the best they can.

I WILL speak to the manager that perhaps another employee in there might help a lot, but they did their job. I did not walk in to find him sitting there screaming all alone.

I know there are bad people in the world, I know that bad things happen. But we need to stop being so afraid. We need to let go and stop hovering. If we are always there, then our children will expect us to always be there, and the day that we are not there they will be lost without us.

I think this is a good first step. If it seems to be too much, then I will only do two day a week.

But I weighed my options, I made an educated decision.

I don't care if you wrote a paper on the horrid things that happen in gym daycare centers. Did you talk to people who praised the care givers? Or did you just listen to the ones who had bad things to say? Did you take into account how people can see the same situation in different ways?

Did you think about maybe I am a mama who thinks and that perhaps I did my research and found the place to be acceptable and the people caring?

I don't know how you wrote your paper, but you don't know how I decided on a gym... so keep your mouth shut.

I know that I did.

I DIDN'T send you the three page letter calling you out on saying scary things to me. I deleted it, and then I deleted your post.

And I am going BACK to the gym tomorrow, and Liam will go back to the daycare tomorrow, (only two days in a row because I am meeting with a personal trainer) and once more I will trust them and keep on trusting them as long as they prove to be trust worthy.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

One of Liam's bottle nipples got a hole bitten in it. So I chucked out the nipple and then planned a trip to Babies R' Us to buy a new one. But then I got to thinking.

We only give him three bottles a day. One before his nap, one before bed, and one at midnight or so when he wakes up and needs to go back to sleep.

Really, the 4th bottle is useless. So I put it away. Minus its torn nipple. I set the ring onto the bottle and put it in a cupboard after a last washing and drying.

And this made me sad. I don't need it anymore. My baby doesn't need a snuggle and a bottle 6-8 times a day.

I am glad that he is growing up, I am glad that he is more independent and eating fun foods... I like not washing a billion bottles a day. I love that he is growing into a sweet toddler and that I get to see who he is going to be, but I already miss my little bitty baby.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Today I threw out the last empty formula canister. We have been using it up in the bed time bottles for a few weeks now and it was empty.

Note the little reminder on top to close it!
See how wet it looks?
That is why I wanted it closed!
That is water splashes from the last 3 months....

Liam is now just eating regular food and having milk in his bottles and sippy cups. Sometimes just water in his sippies, occasionally water mixed with a little juice (which is cause for much celebration!)

In a way this feels like a big step. I debated for a long time over keeping him on formula for longer than a year, on what kind of milk to use (we went with Darigold, since they use local dairies and his milk is coming from close by and not some where across the country) and if he was eating enough food to get a balanced diet.

It seems like such a simple thing but being responsibly for someone elses food intake is kind of intimidating. Did he eat enough protein? Grains? Is two green beans enough for a serving, since he is refusing to eat more? Can I make up lack of veggies with fruit? Does it matter that sometimes he won't eat his lunch and cries and cries and cries and throws food away from him and refuses everything but a bottle? Is it bad that after wasting food and trying to help him for 45 minutes I give in and give him that bottle? Should I worry on the days he seems to live on fruit and milk and air?

And the ever present one... when will he stop using a cup and plate as a toy and stop dumping them over onto the tray or himself or the floor!?!?!?! He would rather play with a plate and gnaw on the edge of it than eat a meal when he is clearly hungry. He will take one sip from a cup and then shove his hand in there and splash around or dump it out so he can inspect the bottom of the cup. So we try these things every now and then, but most of the time I am too tired to stress about cleaning up after him so I just don't give him those options.

Maybe I can start putting a single piece of food at a time onto a plate. Once he eats it, he gets another one. We try one sip at a time in a cup but for whatever reason in his little mind he will NOT lift a cup up high enough for just one sip of water and he gets mad and throws the cup down or turns it over.

It is all just a work in progress and he will catch on when he catches on. I am pretty sure that if we ate as a family more and he got to see these things in action he would do them. But we don't... I try to have lunch with him so he sees that one with plates and cups and forks. And we usually have breakfast together.